Wisconsin coach Bret Beilema watches from the sidelines during overtime of the Badgers’ loss to Michigan State on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Madison, Wis. Michigan State won 16-13. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin has traveled a similar route to reach the top of the Big Ten Conference in each of the last two seasons.

The Badgers went 4-0 in November in 2010, winning by an average margin of 37.8 points per game, to claim a share of the title and secure a berth in the Rose Bowl.

The Badgers went 4-0 in November last season, winning by an average margin of 30.8 points, to reach the inaugural Big Ten title game.

UW enters November 2012 with slim hopes of winning the Leaders Division title.

The Badgers, who had a bye Saturday, are 3-2 in the league and 6-3 overall.

They trail Ohio State (10-0, 6-0) by 21/2 games and Penn State (6-3, 4-1) by a full game.

“The months of November,” UW coach Bret Bielema said, “the last couple of years have kind of worked out the way they are right now in a weird sort of way that we’ve never been at the top of the list.

“We’ve never been the team that everybody was counting to win a championship the last two years.

“But at the end, we were. And it’s because we handle everything on a week-to-week approach. This thing is no different.

“We’ve got everything in front of us.”

UW has three league games remaining — Saturday at Indiana (4-5, 2-3), Nov. 17 against visiting Ohio State and Nov. 24 at Penn State.

With Ohio State and Penn State ineligible for postseason play because of NCAA sanctions, UW has two paths to the league title game Dec. 1 in Indianapolis.

The first path is easier, though less rewarding than the second.

A victory at Indiana, a 24-21 winner over Iowa on Saturday, would give UW a two-game lead over the Hoosiers with two games to play, the head-to-head tiebreaker and a berth in the title game.

In that scenario, however, UW would be in danger of finishing third in the division and advancing to the title game only because the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are ineligible.

“We don’t want people to say they’re only going because Ohio State and Penn State can’t go,” senior tailback Montee Ball said. “We want to make a stand and make some noise.”

UW’s players and coaches no doubt would have to deal with the question of whether they deserved to be in the title game rather than another team, even a second team from the Legends Division.

Remember that during the Big Ten preseason meetings in July, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald suggested the radical idea of changing the selection process this year.

His idea: the Legends Division winner would qualify for the title game to face a wild-card team.

“Maybe the Legends winner should automatically be in the championship and then take the other teams that are eligible and you put a committee together,” he said, suggesting the league’s 12 athletic directors form the committee and that Commissioner Jim Delany cast the 13th vote. “That’s kind of how we’re doing the playoff and it makes a little bit of sense to me.”

Not surprisingly, Fitzgerald’s suggestion was dead before he walked away from the microphone.

The second path is more difficult and UW would need help.

If the Badgers sweep their final three games and Ohio State loses its regular-season finale against Michigan, they would earn a share of the division title as they did last season by routing Penn State in the regular-season finale.

In that scenario, the Badgers could claim to be a legitimate Leaders Division representative in the title game.

“We have Indiana,” Bielema said. “We have the two teams that are ahead of us right now in our division.

“For us, we personally couldn’t ask for… these schedules were made three years ago. It wasn’t like they were made post-Penn State and Ohio State issues. These things were made in advance of that.

“So it’s kind of, again, a sign that everything happens for a reason.”

UW doesn’t appear capable of sweeping its final three games.

Unlike 2010 and ’11, the quarterback situation is unsettled. With starter Joel Stave out for the season after suffering a broken collarbone, either Curt Phillips or Danny O’Brien will get the start at Indiana.

The defense has been stout but surrendered a 75-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter of the overtime loss to Michigan State, in part because the offense could not sustain any drives under O’Brien.

“We felt like, ‘Put the ball in their hands and we’ll stop them,'” safety Dezmen Southward said when asked about the late touchdown drive by the Spartans. “We had done it all game… . We didn’t come through.”

Despite opening league play with a loss at Nebraska, despite the loss to Michigan State and despite being in third place in its division, UW needs to win just one more game to secure a berth in the Big Ten title game.

A victory in that game would send UW to the Rose Bowl for the third consecutive season.

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